Man, 88, 'died after ambulance delays in Cornwall'

John Codd served in the Army before working for Ordnance Survey

A retired Army colonel died after he suffered a fall when he got out of a taxi, an inquest heard.

John Codd waited more than five hours to be admitted to Cornwall's main hospital and died later the same night.

The inquest, held in Truro, heard Mr Codd, 88, was left lying on the ground outside a nursing home in St Austell, where he was receiving respite care, for "two hours and 18 minutes" waiting for an ambulance to arrive.

Senior Cornwall Coroner Andrew Cox said Mr Codd, from St Austell, then waited more than three hours in the back of the ambulance before he was admitted to the Royal Cornwall Hospital, where he later died on 16 January 2024.

'Highly unusual injury'

Mr Cox said there was not a "shortage of ambulances or a lack of doctors in the emergency department", but the hospital was "full".

"It cannot discharge fit patients and ambulances cannot offload patients," said Mr Cox.

Describing it as an "accident", Mr Cox concluded Mr Codd, known as Bill, died after suffering a trauma when he fell from the taxi which led to a blood clot.

He said: "It is probable that an earlier admission to the hospital would have resulted in an earlier CT scan before performed and would have revealed the presence of the hematoma found post-mortem."

"It is possible that, if a blood transfusion had taken place, the death would not have occurred when it did."

Pathologist Dr Thomas Grigor said: "It was a highly unusual injury. It's rare."

The inquest heard how Mr Codd's daughter supported the coroner to make a Prevention of Future Deaths report to the Government about the vast number of hours lost in ambulance handovers.